The RememberanceClan Smoke Jaguar
by Ratash Osis
Summary: This is from a site that I can't remember, but its a good masterpiece. Warning: Poem is a bit long.


The Remembrance  
(Clan Smoke Jaguar)  
Hark, children of the Clans,  
to the wisdom of Kerensky and your forebears.  
Know what has come before;  
remember it and you strive toward the future.  
- Passage 1, Verse 1, Lines 1-4  
Where nature's law threatened the weary;  
When food, water, even air itself ran low,  
It took just a command, a word, a smile,  
From the General to light the way.  
He was comfort, stern courage, compassion  
To our sires as he lead them from the fires  
That grew and fed on those they left behind.  
Passage 2, Verse 14, Lines 18-24.  
"The just deaths of the traitors frightened some  
There among the darkness and alien stars.  
A few lost heart and began with quavering resolve  
To question the Great Father's plan.  
With stern compassion he spoke and all was revealed:  
How their destiny was the Hidden Hope  
Of all mankind and their sons' sons  
Would one day return to the inner sphere  
Bringing back the enlightenment of the Star League  
To those unfortunates they had left behind  
Such was their right, such is our legacy of blood."  
-Passage 3, Verse 22, Lines 1-11.  
There will be a time when our descendants  
Return to reclaim what is our right.  
With honor and swelling their hearts, they will crusade  
Against the dark emotions that have dimmed  
The Inner Sphere for so long.  
But with glory comes responsibility;  
Without a pure soul we cannot give sight  
To their blind lives, but will only blind ourselves.  
-Passage 3, Verse 41, Lines 1-8.  
The General's intent was clearly stated,  
To depart and never return.  
He forced none but swayed many;  
This compassionate, brilliant man  
Had led thousands to victory,  
And he would again lead the long march.  
-Passage 8, Verse 6, Lines 12-17.  
  
The rebels, heeding neither strength nor sense,  
Cowardly ambushed noble DeChevilier.  
Although he fought like a lion, he died  
And with his death came the clouds, and reason fled  
Like a winter sun's feeble evening light  
Above hopeless Eden and wicked Babylon  
-Passage 8, Verse 36, Lines 51-56.  
  
Then Warrior Hazen grew cold  
Watching noble DeChavilier die.  
Urging her to fly,  
To forget her duty.  
But with a defiant cry  
Proud Turkina dove  
From the realm of death  
To seize Hazen's heart  
To shake her free of fear  
Leaving pure her soul  
And her duty clear.  
-Passage 8, Verse 36, Lines 58-66.  
And Nicholas stood with  
The first gathering of Khans  
To draw up tenets of what made a warrior.  
Wars have often killed the innocent,  
Ruined entire societies.  
Not within the Clans.  
Wars were for the warriors to wage  
And that innocents not suffer  
At the hands of trueborns."  
-Passage 10, Verse 5  
Then Karen Nagasawa said,  
"The past holds wise men as well as fools;  
Why then do we listen only to the foolish  
When we have another choice?"  
-Passage 12, Verse 14, Lines 4-7.  
  
The wise Nicholas spoke to them all  
Through the haze of their anguish  
His passion flowed through the doubt,  
His conviction tore at the fear  
He was become the living legend.  
Phillip listened and believed;  
He would follow this great man  
as he had followed the father  
into Exodus, and hope.  
-Passage 14, Verse 1, Lines 1-9.  
And in her vision the wolf howled,  
But the nova cat paced steadily on,  
Undisturbed by the petty battles  
Others fought, trying to cage it within the bars of  
Thoughtless sameness. The nova cat gazed  
Straight ahead, its heart and mind devoted to  
The Ways of Seeing, devoted to a more perfect life.  
-Passage 50, Verse 5, Lines 26-32.  
Five, Nicholas proclaimed, was the foundation  
Upon which our true society was to be built.  
Laborers to till the land, to do the tasks:  
They shall have our undying gratitude,  
For they are the muscle behind us all.  
Merchants to buy and sell with fairness:  
They shall have our commerce and respect,  
For they are the bones upon which we are built.  
Technicians to build and fix the machines:  
They shall have our admiration,  
For they are the fingers with we grasp life.  
Scientists to create and discover:  
They shall have our awe and our attention,  
For they are the mind of our society.  
And above all, the Warriors who protect:  
They shall have our cooperation and worship,  
For they are the blood and soul of us all.  
-Passage 67, Verse 26, Lines 21-37.  
"For the day will come and our kin will stand  
On Terra's firm soil, ready to rebuild  
The Star League with their hearts and hands.  
But who shall lead? Upon the whose shoulders  
Will the burden lie? The answer is the test;  
The test is the journey. Whichever Clan  
Carves its way through the barbarians  
To reach that fabled cradle of us all  
Shall be the vehicle of the League's rebirth. Upon  
The Star League throne shall sit that Clan's  
Wisest Khan. So should it be-So shall it be."  
-Passage 72, Verse 22, Lines 14-24.  
As each warrior plays his role in battle,  
So each caste plays its role for the Clan.  
Growers of food and makers of 'Mechs,  
Those who discover and those who enrich,  
All look for justice to the warrior who governs.  
-Passage 96, Verse 12, Lines 1-5.  
From Kerensky's Stars came the Eight Hundred  
Beneath a banner of Truth and Righteous Light  
To lift up those who had suffered and to smite down  
With fearful vengeance those who had ruled  
In the name of Vanity or Greed.  
The thunder of their BattleMech's feet, the lightning  
From their weapons, and the blood spilled in their name  
Created the Clan Spirit, the forge upon which  
We have fashioned ourselves to be the weapon  
Of the resurrected Star League,  
Honored to a razor's edge by the Trials,  
By The Remembrance and by the Words  
Of the Great Kerenskys, our sires, our saviors.  
-Passage 98, Verse 24, Lines 8-20.  
From Kerensky's Stars came the Eight Hundred  
Beneath a banner of Truth and Righteous Light  
To lift up those who had suffered and to smite down  
With fearful vengeance those who had ruled  
In the name of Vanity or Greed.  
-Passage 98, Verse 28.  
Remember Franklin Osis,  
Father of his Clan.  
Three strengths he gave us:  
The jaguar's spring that brings the enemy down,  
The jaguar's claws that rend the enemy's heart,  
The jaguar's taste for the enemy's hot blood.  
-Passage 104, Verse 18, Lines 5-10.  
All praise the art of batchall and bidding  
For it proves our love of peace and tradition."  
-Passage 118, Verse 2, Lines 11-12.  
As the insect feeds the bird,  
As the bird feeds the wolf,  
As the wolf feeds the smoke jaguar,  
So all give life to the warrior,  
Who sheds his blood for their glory.  
- Passage 121, Verse 43  
Five are our foundation,  
One above the rest.  
Four are the steppingstones,  
The fifth the pinnacle.  
The laborer, the technician, the scientist, the merchant,  
These are the steppingstones  
To the warriors' place.  
As the insect feeds the bird,  
As the bird feeds the wolf,  
As the wolf feeds the smoke jaguar,  
So all give life to the warrior  
Who sheds his blood for their glory.  
-Passage 121, Verse 43, Lines 12-24.  
Bid the Sea Fox farewell;  
Noble he was, but not strong enough.  
The diamond shark has devoured him;  
The shark is the greater warrior.  
-Passage 127, Verse 35, Lines 6-9.  
Like a poisonous weed, the Not-Named fostered  
Thoughts and actions against the Clans, calling them  
"Independence" and "Freedom," not realizing  
Their every act changed them to the corruption's  
That brought down the noble Star League  
And set the Inner Sphere aflame.  
But the Clans survived by condemning  
Them to a bitter annihilation.  
Lead by Clans Wolf and Widowmaker,  
The Grand Council wiped clean the records,  
Obliteration with the warm blood  
Of its tragically doomed warriors  
Every mention of the Not-Named Clan.  
-Passage 149, Verse 55, Lines 21-33.  
  
About the fallen hero they gathered,  
None able to give voice to his shock.  
Khan Jerome Winson knelt, tears streaming,  
To cradle Nicholas Kerensky's head.  
To wipe the blood from the cold brow,  
To close the lightless eyes. Peach, great Hero.  
Choked with sadness and anger  
Khan Jerome Winson spoke. "Khan Cal Jorgensson,  
I cry, not for myself, nor for others.  
I weep for your Clan Widowmaker.  
There is a price for such a crime  
As you have committed. A price you  
And your Clan will pay."  
-The Remembrance Passage 154, Verse 34, Lines 16-28.  
  
Now is the time  
To prove  
What we know to be true:  
That we shall conquer all.  
-Passage 155, Verse 2, Lines 45-48.  
  
Therefore the youngest of them all stood up,  
And with a voice like amber wine she spoke:  
"Great sir, now all is clean and seeming well,  
Yet still there is but one remaining problem;  
My children, sir, they as of yet unborn,  
Shall never hear your words so pure and grand."  
"You see"' the great one spoke aloud, "It is  
your humble kin for whom I write this book.  
It is the law, our honor bound in hide."  
-The Remembrance Passage 156, Verse 04, Lines 24-32.  
  
And Minaka Widowmaker spoke,  
"I claim the Bloodname Vordermark;  
It was my mother's and my mother's father's.  
It is mine by association and blood pride."  
The Council was stunned and outraged  
By her lack of respect for the Clan ways.  
Then the ilKhan rose and spoke wise words.  
"Such a claim is not freely granted, Minaka.  
Although your blood may cry out Vordermark,  
It is your muscle and mind that will make it so.  
Remember that Rede of our past, Widowmaker,  
And do not ask words to win what the trial decides.  
If strong, you will win the Right.  
But do justice to our future  
By remembering our past, young one.  
Those are my words, that is my judgment."  
-Passage 167, Verse 34, Lines 33-48.  
In our dark days of wandering,  
He gave us Hidden Hope;  
Our sacred duty calls us to return.  
As our Father told us,  
And his father before him,  
Ours is the redemption of the Universe;  
Ours is the paradise of Terra;  
Ours is the war of liberation.  
-Passage 204, Verse 06, Lines 2-9.  
  
Remember Leo Showers,  
Great Khan of Khans.  
He showed us the way to destiny,  
And gave his life to achieve it.  
-Passage 215, Verse 31, Lines 22-25.  
  
Mourn for our ilKhan, o warriors!  
Cry curses to the heavens!  
They have silenced the voice of the Crusaders;  
Let them be ash beneath our feet.  
Make your hearts as proud as his,  
Make your blood as fierce,  
Make your blows as deadly to our enemies  
-Passage 215, Verse 31, Lines 26-32.  
  
And never forget that help may come  
From the most unlikely of quarters  
And success rest upon the shoulders  
Of those kept shadowed until the time of need.  
-Passage 222, Verse 06, Lines 11-14.  
  
Then the order came, "Furl the sails.  
Ready for jump, mighty warriors.  
We journey back, we journey home,  
Carrying the flame of the Star League  
Back to the hearth. We face the ignorant  
Who believe themselves civilized and strong,  
But they will soon discover otherwise.  
We are the Clans, the Star League incarnate.  
None can stand against us and survive."  
-Passage 272, Verse 08, Lines 11-19.  
  
"No natural calamities cost you.  
There was no great disease, no famines;  
No interstellar catastrophe to blame.  
You have no excuse to explain  
How this, our rightful palace, has been fouled  
With the dust of countless innocent dead.  
The truth is that you are the descendants  
Of traitors who scurry about like rats  
In the dark, fighting over petty kingdoms  
At the foot of the empty throne.  
Never recognizing that you have given up  
The one true prize."  
-Passage 285, Verse 15, Lines 21-32.  
  
Tyra of the Rasalhague led,  
Forth her fiery flying Drakons,  
Gallant in bronze. A warrior woman whose hands  
Were unskilled in the ways of hearth and home,  
In the skills of war she was hard and trained  
To leave behind the airy winds and fight  
Where the void is eternal and life fleeting.  
Tyra and her warriors fought  
Like crazed demons above Radstadt  
. When her fighter was crippled by ours,  
And her life leaked away into the endless night,  
She chose to die  
And sent her fighter like a spear  
Through the Dire Wolf, claiming as isorla  
Our mighty ilKhan's life. Sing of our loss, warriors!  
Sing, but of Tyra also,  
For though an enemy, her courage none can deny.  
-The Remembrance Passage 294, Verse 08, Lines 17-23.  
"And so the Khans met in kurultai  
To discuss the carving of Tukayyid.  
As if it was some feast dish cooked  
And tender, begging for the server's knife."  
-Passage 327, Verse 3, Lines 5-8.  
  
Sons and daughters of the blood legacy,  
Inspire me as I sing,  
Of the deaths dealt out on Tukayyid  
And of what our warriors faced and bravely fought:  
Help me paint a portrait of an apocalypse.  
-Passage 328, Verse 01, Lines 1-5.  
Fifteen years, fellow warriors. Fifteen years  
We are to suffer in shame and silence,  
Listening to the crowing and laughter  
Of our enemies, who think us defeated.  
But remember, warriors, we are the Clans.  
What fails to kill us only makes us stronger.  
And when future sibkos learn of us,  
They will know the sixteenth year  
As the Stacalkas-Nomen: The year  
The punishment of our enemies began.  
-Passage 329, Verse 53, Lines 141-150.  
Remember those events that brought us these fifteen years of shame.  
But remember also those who fell to restore the glorious Star League.  
Above all, remember the blood legacy of Aidan Pryde, child of Kerensky;  
he made the final sacrifice so that his Clan could continue.  
For eternity shall we praise him;  
in fifteen years we shall avenge him.  
-Passage 417, Verse 29, Lines 74-79. 


End file.
